The clearance of Wynter Kabimba on by the Judge Evans Hamaundu Tribunal will be challenged through judicial review because the findings were predetermined and violated every sense of morality and good governance.

Kabimba who doubles as Justice Minister and Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general has been cleared of allegations of having committed any felony after his converted a government legal opinion into private use by the PF and a private litigant.

Both petitioners civil rights activist Brebner Changala and former MMD Solwezi Central Member of Parliament(MP) Lucky Mulusa are unhappy because the Judge Hamaundu Tribunal has taken a very partisan and partial stance including denying them copies of the final report which were now in the public domain,

Mulusa said that Judge Hamaundu’s tribunal findings which cleared Kabimba of any wrong doing was a slap in the face of the Supreme Court ruling, which frowned at the conduct of Kabimba who copied a government legal opinion on a PF letterhead to the Acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda.

The petitioners said it was incredible that the Tribunal found that there was no felony against Kabimba to convert a government legal opinion rendered to him (Kabimba) in his capacity as Justice Minister into private use by the PF and later by a private litigant.

He said his decision together with Changala to go for judicial review would help set the record straight and save the Supreme Court and the judiciary from total shame.

Mulusa said that Hamaundu had exposed himself to high levels of compromise in the manner he presided over a Tribunal many Zambians hoped would save the face of the judiciary that had in recent years suffered greater loss of confidence and credibility from citizens.

He said that the whole outcome of the tribunal was a bad joke and a slap in the face of the judiciary.

He said that it was sad that the legal fraternity was the one in the forefront exhibiting high levels of unethical conduct in the manner they were presiding on matters of national interest which if not checked would destroy the governance of country.

Mulusa warned that if the Judiciary was going to be allowed to continue on its current trajectory, it would be one of the many fatal steps towards a failed state.

“Zambians now cannot claim to have any arm of government which is firmly independent as the last line of defence to our young democracy. Parliament has also been mutilated in such a way that voting patterns are on party lines rather than to have the interest of society at heart. The executive also has messed up the governance system to an extent where the economy has lost any semblance economy of internal and external shocks,” said Mulusa.

And Changala has written to the Acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda complaining against Wynter Kabimba tribunal chairperson Judge Evans Hamaundu whose conduct he has described as shocking.

In a letter dated 24th February, 2014, Changala stated that the tribunal which was supposed to be used as a vehicle for an inquiry was abused to clear Kabimba.

Changala said that Judge Hamaundu was drown in malice and self-preservation as he restricted the proceedings to fashion the outcome of the same, adding that it was no wonder he withdrew the right to subpoena witnesses.

He also said that the impending appointment as Supreme Court Judge took a tow on him and he thus lost his objectivity and impartiality.

“The record will show that with great impunity, he promulgated a strange procedure that made it clear to see that he was bent on hijacking the process and he successfully did so. A key witness such as Terry Musonda was shielded. Out of malice, he has since refused to avail me a copy of the report when the record clearly shows that he undertook to avail us copies on the same day of presentation to the President and the Speaker.

The tribunal was not a cult for him to want to keep the report secret from us complainants. That tribunal will go down in the history as the worst of its kind as it acted less than honorable,” said Changala in his letter which was also copied to Judge Hamaundu.